Boom failure,Lima Ohio

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Al Smith

Al Smith

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Location
Lima Ohio
Today,at aprox. 2:30 pm,an arborist was injured,after the failure of the lower boom section of a 65 ft High Ranger.Ernie Smith[no relation],was swinging the boom,in an over center condition,when the failure occured.He is now in the hospitol,with a broken arm,and collarbone.The boom collapsed through the top of a 35 ft soft maple,which probabley saved him from worse injuries.I got the call,about 3:00 pm,and,with the help of another tree service and a Pettybone lift,got the boom,out of the tree.Ironically,this truck has had annual boom inspection,since owned by the present owner,and was slated for one,the end of this month.Another scarey thing,I used this truck,less than a month ago,to take down the big red oak,I made a post on.I wiil send three pictures.
 
Ernie

This is a picture of Ernie,3 weeks ago.At this point,I am in that dang truck.I will keep all posted,as to his recovery.
 
Latest update

Tom,the guy that owns the truck,just called me from the hospitol.Ernie,does in fact have a broken arm,and collarbone,and thay are checking for possible compression fracture of the spine.If none are found,he will be released,to go home.
 
I was just over at the Vermeer dealer on Monday and started talking with this other arborist who was already there when I came in. During the course of our conversation, he mentioned that he had a pretty much brand new 75' bucket truck with a chip box in the back... nice setup. Only problem I heard was that he mounted some kind of lifting sling to the bottom boom so that he can load logs into the chip box.

Hope your friend is alright.
 
Best wishes for your friends recovery. Please keep us posted as to what investigation shows up as to what caused failure. Clean separation looks like the lower boom insert failed. Friend of mine has a similiar year bucket, looks like a 1968? that I have used a few times.
 
Boom failure

When Tom bought the truck,It was not in the best of shape.The 391 cu in engine was shot,and the boom,needed some attention.The leveling cables,beleave or not,had been spliced.:eek: I helped him restring it,with factory new cables.He later had the main lift cable replaced with a new one,by an autherized repair company.Since then,he has had annual inspections.[1974 boom] The two hacks,that were the original owners,did not use the boom tie down clamp.When Tom got the truck,that is one of the first things he replaced.This unsecuered boom,which caused metal fatigue,was the cause of the failure.If you look closely at the picture,you will see the failure took place under the boom tie down reinforcement piece.This made visual inspection non effective.Due to the fact that the failure was in the bottom of the piece,it would not have failed,in an upright position.In the over center position,it put the fatigued piece at the top.So rather than being in compression,it was now in extension,thus the failure.Perhaps,with this info,another accident can be avoided.
 
That makes perfect sense...
So does the fact that he's lucky to be alive... boom failure is all over Tim Walsh's fatality report excel file...

The tree probably saved his life! Good Karma no doubt... Glad to have the pics and best wishes for a full recovery.
 
Update

Ernie has been releasedfrom the hospitol .He sustained a broken forearm.The collarbone,is not broken,no compression fracture of the spine.Cast for 6 to 8 weeks,recovery,within 6 mo.Here he is,a little dopey,from pain medication,in our kitchen.I will make a post,in the large equipment part of the site,with more pictures of the boom.
 
What's a boom tie down clamp? Is that something only for older buckets? When we're done using a bucket, we seat them via hydraulics. :confused:
 
Originally posted by wct4life
What's a boom tie down clamp? Is that something only for older buckets? When we're done using a bucket, we seat them via hydraulics. :confused:
Click to expand...

It usually just clamps down over the upper boom, if I remember right. It's been awhile since I flew a bucket.
 
Originally posted by wct4life
What's a boom tie down clamp? Is that something only for older buckets? When we're done using a bucket, we seat them via hydraulics. :confused:
Click to expand...

The older hi rangers have a strap for the upper boom that near the controls that clamp the upper and lower boom together. They also have a pin that holds down the boom out near the cradle that holds the lower boom down to the cradle. If I am understanding and seeing the pictures correctly the boom failed at the point where the lower boom would be sitting in the cradle because of not being pinned which caused it to bounce and fatigue over time. We have a couple of older hi rangers year 1991 that I checked today and the pins were gone but the slots are there. The newer models have some springs and rubber cushions and no pins at the outer cradle, just a boom strap by the controls. Thanks for this info I will be much more aware of pinning the booms on the older trucks in the future and also let the safety officer know about a possible problem.
 
Hi Ranger 5FI

This looks like an Hiranger 5FI I had one fail in 89 the Hi Ranger company put a wear plate on the bottom of the boom where the boom sets in the cradle. It was made of Stainless steal. The plate being a harder material would get beat into the lower boom because of bouncing in the cradle, causing a crease in the metal. It would then crack, the crack stayed hidden under the plate until the unit went over center and failure occurred. Luck would have it nobody got hurt. If you have a unit with this plate remove it and leave it off so unit can be inspected.
 
That is exactly what happened to the boom .I helped Tom replace the booms,in my shop,with a set of EI booms .He is taking in to Ft Wayne Ind. tommorrow to get the booms restrung and recertified.We removed the chip box,and installed a flat bed,with the boom support further back,to give it better support.The new cradle,is lined with 3/4" rubber.Enclosed is a picture,the local newspaper took of of the show{ not much happening that day} :)
 

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